Birthday celebrations as Doris turns 100

And there was an extra special surprise for Doris Tildesley when she was reunited with her former neighbour Maud Wallis ­- who is a year older than Doris, at 101.

Friends, relatives and family crowded into daughter Pam Davis's home in Wood End Road, Wednesfield, to mark the milestone.

She was presented with a special cake, and the family all sang happy birthday.

As a teenager, Doris worked for industrial magnate, Major Hickman at Ackleton Manor, between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth.

See also: I've never felt old, says Ethel, aged 100.

Major Hickman was the grandson of Sir Alfred Hickman, who had owned Bilston steel works and served as chairman of Tarmac.

She recalls her time at Ackleton Manor as a period of carefree abandon, and some of the happiest days of her life.

"It was great fun," she said. "I would be out dancing all the time, mainly at village halls, at Worfield, Ackleton and Claverley.

"Sometimes I would not get in until three in the morning, then it was a couple of hours sleep, and then up at six for work the next day."

She met her future husband Leslie while he was camping with the boy scouts over Rudge Heath, and they were married at St Peter's Church, Worfield, in June 1937.

"It was a lovely hot day, I still feel the burning on my arm now," she said.

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After getting married, she went to live in Wellington Place, Willenhall, where Leslie ran his cabinet-making business Heath Tildesley.

For more than half a century, she lived opposite Maud, who now lives in a care home in Walsall, and Doris said she was delighted to be reunited with her at the party.

"It was lovely seeing her again, it's been seven years since I last saw her, she hadn't changed a bit," said Doris. "We talked a lot about the old times, about when we used to ride horses."

Doris added that the biggest change she had seen was the way the pace of life was much more hectic nowadays.

"Everybody is rushing about all the time," she said.

She said hard work was the secret to staying young.

Leslie died in 1991, and Doris now lives with her eldest daughter, Elaine Adcock in Coventry.

As well as daughters Pam and Elaine, Doris has grandsons Neil, 46, and Richard, 41, and great-grandchildren Amy, 13, Bethany, nine, Lucy, six, Daniel, four, and Chloe, two, who were all at the party.

Pam, who is 70, said her mother was always full of life.

"She's outgoing, always full of fun, and a bit mischievous," she added.